1923 Irish Societies, 105 



ROUTE NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



July 14.— Excursion to Whitepark Bay and Ballintoy.- — ^Favoured 

 by charming weather, the members of the newly-formed Club turned out 

 in strength for their second excursion, and were reinforced by a small 

 contingent oi the B N.F.C., staying at Billycastle, who brought up the 

 total number to 25. The Hon. Sec. of the Club, Rev. E. M. Gumley, B.A., 

 conducted. 



Making their way down a gorge in the Chalk cliff below the school, where 

 Mr. Gumley had thoughtfully provided a special ladder, the party reached 

 a knoll commanding a wide view of the whole bay from the " Park-end " 

 to Port Braddan, from which point R. J. Welch, of the Belfast Club, gave 

 a concise description of the geological formation of the district. They then 

 proceeded towards the west end of the bay, collecting on the way many 

 botanical specimens. 



Mr. Welch, in the course of his remarks, pointed out the main geological 

 features of the area, the eastern termination of the great " fault " at Port 

 Braddan, which throws down the basalts of Bengore Head against the 

 Chalk of Whitepark. The position of the Lias clays with their many 

 Ammonites and other fossils was shown with those curious volcanic in- 

 trusions, now worn by the sea into all sorts of marine sea stacks, such as 

 the Elephant Rock and the Vista Arch. The low cliffs, where Helix 

 aspersa, constantly hibernating in winter and aestivating in dry weather, 

 has drilled deep holes in the hard Chalk, was also pointed out. Further 

 along, the pointed hummock with its small prehistoric stone circle was 

 seen. 



Arrived at the famous Kitchen Middens, many interesting things 

 were found, among them being pot-boilers, hammerstones, pieces 

 of pottery showing attempts at ornamentation, and four good flint 

 scrapers. These last named were the finds of a junior visitor from 

 Belfast. The best finds were a beautiful, finely fluted, steep-nosed 

 scraper, and the form known as a tooth scraper. With these 

 were many bones of animals used for food, the marrow bones split 

 as usual, and a good many fragments of the " short-fired " cooking 

 vessels (not sun-baked as they are so often erroneously called), some of 

 the fragments nicely ornamented with various patterns. The part of the 

 dunes where landshells, collected by wind- action into " pockets " could be 

 sieved out, was shown, and the proper sort of miller's gauze sieve (home 

 made) useful for the purpose exhibited. 



A move was now made to the Parochial Schools, where a very welcome 

 cup of tea was dispensed by Mrs. Gumley, and books useful to beginners 

 in natural history and prehistoric archaeology shown by a visitor ; a special 

 net for rock-pool and freshwater fauna collecting was also exhibited. 

 The party proceeded to Mount Druid cromlech on the hill behind the 

 rectory. Here a short talk was given by Mr. Welch on the nature of 

 cromlechs in general and this one in particular. He gave good reasons 

 for believing that it is the central chamber of what was once a small burial 

 mound or cairn. 



